Railway buffing mechanism.



R. D. GALLAGHER, Jn. RAILWAY BUFFING NIECHANISNI.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-8| lgl. 1,1301 ,423., Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

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RICHARD D. GALLAGHER, JR., OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY BUFFING MECHANISM.

Specieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 19H9.

Applieeten mea December s, 1917. serieu No. 206,266.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD D. GALLA- GHER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new andV useful Improvements in Railway Bufiing Mechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. y

Under modern traffic conditions it is often desirable and sometimes necessary to run.

the main steel sills is in a line below thecenter line of buffer strain. Owing to this condition in the construction of cars of this type it has, in the present arrangement, been found most convenient and desirable to arrange thev spring or yielding support of the buflingf mechanism back of the end sill'of the car, instead of in front of the end sill, as has heretofore been proposed. In addition, it has been found desirable to provide a means whereby the buifer face plate may be moved to occupy a normal position a greater or less distance from the end sill of the car, inasmuch as under certain conditions it must be held projected a considerable distance in order to properly coperate withv the corresponding mechanism of the adjacent car, and underother conditions, or where the. car is coupled, in a freight train for example, the buer mechanism must be moved inwardly or backwardly to avoid interference with the coupler operating mechanism on the adjoining car.

All of these objects are attained in a simple and convenient structure, which, if desired, may be` applied to existing cars without alteration in their frame and sill members, other than` the formation of perforations in webs and ianges and the riveting of attachments thereto.

a Referring to .the accompanying drawe 1ngs,-

Figure 1 is a plan view, partly in section and partly broken away, of the essential members of one end of a car frame showing the application of the present invention thereto.

Fig. 2 is a section in a vertical plane indicated generally by the line 2-2 of Fig. l,

. showing one of the buffer stems in elevation.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation in the broken plane indicated by line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail transverse section in a plane indicated b-y the line lrof Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a detail section on the line 6-6 of Fig. l.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the chaiing plate shown in section in Fig. 6.

The parts of the under-frame of the car illustrated embody the usual bolster plate A; main sills B, which may be of integral `or built-upl channel iron construction, as

usual; and the draft members C, which in effect form extensions of the main sills B, but have their upper edges above the level of said sills, their rear ends being of reduced width, so as to fit within and be riveted to the flanges of the main sills B. At their forward ends the draft members C are connected with and support the end sill D of the car, and between them is located the usual draft rigging, not shown herein further than to indicate, in dotted lines the position of the coupler head and shank E.

For supporting and guiding the buffer stems F the end sill B is provided with reinforcing buffer stem sleeves (l, the opening in one of said sleeves being enlarged laterally to 4 afford considerable clearance for the buffer j ecting buffersleeves H into which the ends of the stems F project with suflicient clearance to permit of the necessary angular movement of the face plate in rounding curves, etc., and the connections between the sleeves H and stems are formed by coupling pins 72 conveniently held against loss by a flexible connection, and adapted to cooperate with suitable holes or openings in the stems and with any one of a plurality of holes, such as indicated at It in the buffer sleeves H. For preventing the complete detachment of the buffer head or face plate from the stems when the coupling pins la, are removed, the stems are conveniently provided with transverse retaining stops or pins h2 which in assembling the parts may be inserted through transverse holes h3 in the sleeves and rigidly fastened in place by rivets 71;* inserted through the holes It. The retaining pins 71,2 cooperate with internal shoulders of the sleeves H to prevent the withdrawal of the sleeves but, at the same time, the endwise clearance is suiiicient to permit of the face plate and sleeves being moved inwardly or backwardly toward the end sill of the car a sufficient distance to permit of the coupling pins being located in the other holes adapted for their reception and consequently the said face plate may be located normally in either position of its adjustment.

At their inner ends the buffer stems are adapted to coperate through suitable yielding supports with back stops rigidly associated with the under-framing of the car, and the present invention contemplates the provision of a means for connecting these parts in such wise that the frame itself is not weakened, but, on the contrary, addr tional strength and rigidity are imparted to it.

To accomplish these ends, there is preferably provided for each buffer stem, a Z- bar or iron member I which, at its rear end, has its bottom flange riveted rigidly to the bolster plate A and at its forward end is rigidly connected with the draft members C by angle irons 't' and intermediate the ends it is connected with both the draft members and top flanges of the main sills by angle irons z".

The upper flanges or legs of the Z-bars are connected by a transverse plate K firmly riveted thereto and projecting at each end beyond the webs of the Z-bars. The back stops proper, which are preferably in the form of' U-shaped forgings L have their upper legs firmly riveted to the ends of the transverse plate K and their lower legs firmly riveted to the bottom flanges of the Z-bars, as clearly indicated at Z in. Figs. 1 and 5.

The rear ends of the stems F pass through openings in the back Stops L and are provided with keys f to limit their forward movement, while their rearward movement is limited by mechanism'to'be presently described. The said rear ends of the stems F are preferably cylindrical and take their bearing in collars or washers M seating in the openings in the baclvstops and forming in effect not only bearings for the stems themselves, but seats for the rear ends of the springs which constitute the yielding supports of the bufiing mechanism.- In the preferred construction, spring mechanism is employed which performs several important functions, namely, first, to provide for a comparatively easy yielding movement of the buffer face plate up to that point where the coupling of the cars is effected, and from thence on, affording a heavy and rapidly increasingV resistance to the inward or rearward movement of the buffer face plate, in each instance provision being preferably made whereby the yielding movement will be arrested before the elastic limit of collar m will contact with the collar n when further elastic movement of the light spring N is to be arrested, and this position of the parts is such that the collars will contact at about the point where the coupling of the cars is effected'. Thereafter, further inward movement of' the face plate of the buffer only operates to compress the heavy buffer spring N. l

The buffer stem sleeves or reinforcing members l on the end sill D are subject to considerable wear from the movement of the buffer stems, this being particularly apparent on the bottomr surfaces which support the weight of the stems and buffer face plate. To overcome this wear, it is preferred to form said sleeves or reinforced members with an internal pocket or recess in the face adjacent the web of the end sills for the reception of a down-turned end Figs. 6 and 7, of a chaiing plate P. Vith this construction, while the cha-fing plate is loose to theieXtent that it may be readily inserted and removed when no buier stem is present in the opening, it is nevertheless held firmly in place when such stem is present and will afford a good bearing and wearing surface with which the stem will cooperate.

What is claimed is:

l. A buffer mechanism for railway cars embodying buer stems,` yielding supports for holding the stems advanced, and a buliier face plate adjustablyl mounted on the projecting ends of the stems, whereby the face plate may be positioned normally a greater or less distance from the end sill of the car.

2. A buli'er mechanism for railway cars embodying buer stems, yielding supports for holding the stems advanced, a bu'er face plate on the projecting ends of the stems and pivotal and adjustable connections between the face plate and the stems, whereby either end of the face plate may yield a greater distance than the other and the face plate may be normally positioned a greater or less distance from the end sill of the car.

3. A buffer mechanism for railway cars embodying buffer stems, yielding supports for holding the stems advanced, a butter face plate having rearwardly projecting sleeves for cooperation with the stems, and means for adjustably connecting the sleeves and stems, whereby the face plate may be positioned normally a greater or less distance from the end sill of the car.

4. A buffer mechanism for railway cars embodying bulier stems, yielding supports for holding the stems advanced, a buii'er face plate having rearwardly projecting sleeves for cooperation with the stems, adjustable connections between said stems and sleeves, embodying a plurality of openings and removable coupling pins and stop members for preventing the complete separation of said sleeves andstems when the pins are removed.

5. In a buffer mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a car frame embodying main sills, draft members, bolster plate and an end sill rigidly connected together, of buffer stems movably mounted in bearings in the end sill and projecting into proximity to the bolster plate, back stops, and springs for supporting the buer stems against inward movement, and back stop supports formed of members having flanges and rigidly united to the bolster plate, main sills and draft members of the car frame.

6. In a buffer mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a car frame embodying bolster plate, main sills, draft members and end sills rigidly connected together, of buHer stems mounted in bearings in the end sill, back stop supporting members rigidly connected with the bolster plate, main sills and draft member, a transverse plate connecting said back stop supporting members, back stops rigidly connected with said transverse plate and supporting members, and

springs interposed between said back stops,

and stems for yieldingly resisting the inward movement of the latter.

`7. In a buer mechanism for railway cars, the combination with a car frame embodying a bolster plate, sills, draft members and end sills rigidly connected together, of Z- irons rigidly connected at their lower portions with the bolster plate, main sills and draft members, a transverse plate bridged between and rigidly connecting the top flanges of the Z-irons, back-stops bridged between and supported by the bottom flan es of the Z-irons and transverse plate, bu er stems mounted in bearings in the end sills and back stops respectively, and springs supported by said back stops for resisting the inward movement of the buer stem.

RICHARD D. GALLAGHER, J R.

Witness AGNES T. GRAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

